- Date
- December 10, 1989, 15:50 local (21:50 UTC)
- Place
- West Chicago, IL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N4372SPiper PA-28-161
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 25, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891210057349A
- Case key
- 14622
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Failure of the solo student pilot to maintain directional control of the aircraft, which resulted in an inadvertent ground swerve. Factors related to the accident were: the crosswind, the student pilot's lack of total inexperience, and the runway lights.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
After a stop-&-go landing on rwy 10, the student plt entered traffic for a touch-&-go landing on rwy 15. He rprtd that after a normal touchdown, the acft decelerated thru 30 KTS, then began to veer off the left side of the rwy. The student said he corrected with right rudder, but the acft continued off the left side & struck rwy lights. It was stopped about 50 ft from the edge of the rwy. The rwy had a direct crosswind of about 6 KTS. No evidence was found of a pre-acdnt malfunction or failure.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4372S
- Reported as
- Piper PA-28-161
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 28-8416115
- Airframe hours
- 3,027
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D36, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Travel Express, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Mark Kennedy
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 9, 1989 · 400 hours before
- Departed
- DPA
- Destination
- DPA
- Airport
- DPA · Dupage County, runway 15, 3,401 × 100 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 36
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 59 total · 59 in this make and model · 15 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 39 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.